


show me your demons, i'll show you mine

by wandering_soul_with_a_writing_goal



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Comfort, Coming Out, El is a good sister, Everyone Is Gay, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/F, First Kiss, HAPPY ENDING!!, He deserves all the hugs, M/M, Panic Attacks, Pining, Poor Will, Telling secrets, Will has a panic attack, byler, crazy together!!!, elmax - Freeform, mike is very protective, neil is a butt, pillow fort, they all disaster gays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:35:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24645760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wandering_soul_with_a_writing_goal/pseuds/wandering_soul_with_a_writing_goal
Summary: will has a bad day, so el, max and mike make him a pillow fort and then tell secrets. featuring: disaster gays, el being an amazing sister, max being a hopeless romantic and mike making terrible decisions.this work was a collab with @wandering_soul_with_a_writing_goal- she wrote mike and el and i wrote max and will.
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper & Mike Wheeler, Eleven | Jane Hopper/Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Maxine "Max" Mayfield & Mike Wheeler, Will Byers & Eleven | Jane Hopper, Will Byers/Mike Wheeler
Comments: 6
Kudos: 78





	1. i want to wake up with you for the rest of my life

El wakes up with her head in Max’s shoulder and her hands holding tight to the girl’s waist. She must have had another nightmare and clung to the closest thing she could find. Which happened to be Max.

She lifts her head but keeps her hands on Max, who’s still sleeping peacefully. El smiles, like she’s watching a puppy.

After a few minutes of this, El glances at the alarm clock. 11:04. She isn’t surprised-- the girls stayed up until well past midnight.

Max groans and moves slightly, and El pulls her hands away. “Good morning,” she says. The redhead seems to be too tired to form words.

El sits up in the bed as Max rubs her eyes. “How late did we stay up last night?” she mumbled.

“2:03.” Well, Max fell asleep at 2:03. El couldn’t find rest until about 3:19. But Max doesn't need to know that.

Max sits up, slowly. “What’s for breakfast?”

El shrugs. “Whatever we want.” She wants Eggos, but anything tastes good when Max is here.

They both get out of bed and wander to the kitchen. Will is already there. “Where’s mom?” El asks. She’s lived there long enough to be able to call her that, and can’t help smiling whenever she thinks about the fact that she has a mother.

“Out buying syrup, I think. She’s gonna make pancakes when she gets back.”

Pancakes. Not as good as Eggos, but it will do.

Max mutters “be right back” and leaves the room. El nods and sits in a chair across from Will.

“So, when is she leaving?” Will asks out of curiosity.

El thinks. She doesn’t really want Max to leave at all, to be honest.

“I don’t know.”

They sit in content silence as El thinks. Suddenly, she has an idea.

“Maybe she could stay. And we could invite Mike.”

Will coughs. “Sorry. So, all four of us… hanging out?”

“Yes.” She doesn’t see anything strange about it.

“What about Lucas and Dustin?” He looks more and more nervous by the second.

“They’re busy today. Remember?” She doesn’t know exactly what they’re doing, but they told the rest of the party that they were busy with something. El didn’t really care enough to press.

“Max and Mike…” He’s lost in his thoughts. Why does he look so nervous?

Oh no.

“Will.” She doesn’t mean to sound like she’s interrogating him, but, well, she kind of is.

“What?” He fidgets.

“Do you like Max?” Please say no. Max was her’s. Well, she didn’t own Max, but she couldn’t stand the thought of someone else liking her.

A look of confusion crosses his face. “Max? No, I don’t like her.”

Then why would… 

Mike.

It’s so obvious. How didn’t she see it before?

A sly smile crosses her face as she gives Will a knowing glance. They’ve sort of mastered communication without words.

He groans. “Please don’t tell him.”

“Tell who what?” Max is back. El grabs her hand and pulls her to a chair.

“Nothing. Do you want to stay? We’re going to invite Mike.”

She thinks about it. “Mike? Why him?”

“Why not?” The more, the merrier. Is that how the phrase goes?

Max hesitates, then sighs. “Sure. At least I’ll get to be with you longer.”

El is certain she turns bright pink. She stumbles over her words. “I… that’s… good. Cool.” Will stifles a laugh.

Oh boy. She was setting them both up for disaster, wasn’t she?


	2. i'm the monster in my nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> will invites mike over and then has a panic attack, but max and el comfort him

“Hey… Mike,” Will says over the phone and prays his voice doesn’t crack.

The other boy replies, “Hey, Will.”

Does he sound bored? Or disappointed that it’s Will, not someone else? Will’s almost disappointed that he’s the one calling. How lame is that? He should be suave and confident and charming and…

Well, he shouldn’t love boys at all (or at least, this one boy in particular), but he’s given up trying to change that.

“So… uhhh…” Mike says from the other end of the line Will blinks before he realizes he’s been scratching at his arm clutching the phone in a death grip like crazy. He clenches his fist at his side and takes a deep breath before continuing.

“Yeah, so… ummm… I was… well, me and El were wondering if you maybe wanted to come over… like today for lunch or something? Max slept over last night and we figured that the four of us could… ummm… yeah… stuff,” Will clamps his mouth shut before he can say anything else like I’ve been in love with you since I was a kindergartener sitting on a swing set or It’s a perfect time for our wedding.

“Ok,” ~~the love of his life~~ his best friend (maybe not even best, they haven’t really talked about that- maybe Mike only considers Will one of his tertiary friends?) replies, “I’ll be there.”

“Ok,” Will says, leaving it up in the air.

“So… bye?” Mike asks.

“Yeah. See you, Mike.”

He hangs up and that weird thing his throat’s been doing lately where it feels like it’s squeezing and he has to force the words out happens again, but it’s worse this time, so he’s bracing himself against the wall and wheezing while all these thoughts come at him like the mind flayer seeping into every part of his soul.

_Why the hell would he ever choose you?_

_You’re not good enough, would never be good enough for him._

_He deserves so much better than you._

_If you really loved him, the best thing for you to do is to let him go._

_You’re just weighing him down._

_He’ll never be happy if you’re around. No one will. They’re all just too nice to say it._

Will can’t breathe and the room is shaking and his heart is beating fast, like he’s back in the upside down, but the closest monster is just his own reflection and he wants to scream because he’s so scared, but he can’t run away from any of this and…

“Will?” Max asks, standing in the middle of the room and holding a glass of water, “You ok?”

“I…” he tries to respond, but he feels like he’s choking.

She’s by his side in an instant and he collapses into her. There’s a wet patch on her t-shirt when he pulls away, but Will doesn’t know when he started crying or if he’s ever stopped for once in his life.

He knows what his dad would say if he were here and that just makes him flinch, then sob more.

“What’s wrong?” Max whispers.

Will blinks at her and tries to speak again, but he can’t talk because he’s suffocating and the words are tearing him up inside and he’s the monster, he’s the monster, he’s the monster and the screams are stuck in his throat like barbed wires scraping it up until it feels raw and he hasn’t opened his mouth.

“Will?” El’s wandered into the room now, standing with her chin on Max’s shoulder.

“I…” he starts again and he can’t finish the sentence because he’s not good enough, never good enough.

“It’s ok,” she tells him and he doesn’t know if he should believe her, but a stupid part of him does a little bit, so he lets himself get dragged to the couch while El strokes his back and Max tells a stupid story about Dustin and Lucas having a pickle juice chugging contest that Erica somehow ended up winning.

Will tries to laugh, but it comes out like a strangled sob mixed with a hiccup and El just leans her head on his shoulder and hugs him.

Then, a few minutes later (has it been seventeen minutes and fifty four seconds? Not that he’s counted the seconds when biking to the Wheeler house or anything), the door opens and Mike’s standing there with that smile Will could draw in his sleep and those eyes that have so many stories.

Will wants to tell him to run (because he’s a monster and he doesn’t want this beautiful guy to get hurt), but he can’t speak. Instead, he just stares over Max’s shoulder and prays that the tears have stopped falling.

“Will? Are you… are you ok?” Mike asks and then he’s sobbing again, so hard that he can’t see anything.


	3. i'll build you a fort to keep the monsters out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> mike builds a pillow fort for will

He’s holding Will in his arm, stroking his thumb on Will’s back and whispering comforting words into his ear. “It’s okay, everything’s okay, I’m here, I’ve got you, we’re all here for you…”

He’s careful not to say… the words he shouldn’t say.

Maybe things were awkward before (especially on the phone call, where Mike found that he couldn’t even talk like a normal person. Will probably thought he was a freak.), but now, as Mike comforts his best friend, they’re back in eighth grade on Halloween night.

So Mike whispers, “Crazy together.”

Will lifts his head from where it was resting on Mike’s shoulder, his cheeks wet from crying. He’s still sniffling but he seems better. They share a meaningful moment where they look into each other's eyes and Mike can see that Will remembers that night, too.

“Crazy together,” Will says quietly.

Max and El are on the couch, looking at Will, concerned. When Mike had gotten in he’d told them that he'll handle it. But they insisted they stay in the room.

Suddenly, Mike has an idea. “Hey, Max and El.” They shift their attention to him. “Go get some blankets and pillows.” They’re confused, but they nod and go to grab them.

Will, still sniffling, asks, “Why?”

Mike smiles at him. “We’re gonna make a pillow fort.”

Suddenly, Will’s face lights up in a smile. He breaks away from Mike and dries his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt. “Really?” Mike nods, happy that the boy is back to himself. “Where are we building it?”

Mike shrugs. “Your room?”

Will nods. “Okay, I’ll grab some blankets.”

Soon all four of them have their arms full of blankets and pillows, and as Mike and Will are laying down the foundation (Mike insisted that the two of them are experts, and that Max and El should step aside and watch), Mike is hit with a pillow. He whips around and sees Max whistling and looking away as El giggles.

So, Mike takes a pillow from El’s hands and smacks Max.

“What was that for?” Max asks a little too innocently.

And the war is on.

Max and Mike have a pillow sword duel and El throws a pillow at Will’s head, who ducks but falls on top of the start of their fort and knocks it down and throws one back at El, but it hits Max, and Mike goes after El, and they’re suddenly all on the floor laughing harder than they have in a while.

But then Will stops laughing and seems to forget where he is. He hugs the pillow he’s holding, and Mike, El, and Max go to comfort him. El holds Will in a hug as Max and Mike tell him that they’re going to finish the pillow fort so that Will can be safe inside of it. He nods, and the two get to work. Which is rough, because Max and Mike don’t get along, and Max knows nothing about the art of the pillow fort.

“No, the blankets go on at the end. How many times?”

“Well, I’m sorry. Maybe if you told how we’re doing this instead of ordering me around like a servant--”

Will chuckles, drawing Mike’s attention. El and Will are watching. He’s still hugging the pillow, and Mike knows that it will be a long time before he can really heal.

He just hopes that he can help him heal faster.


	4. fairytales are not for girls like me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> max has never been able to lie to anyone, especially not el. no wonder she can't keep a secret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, this chapter was an angst fest. make sure you get the tissues out!

Max watches El laugh at Mike’s joke and she reaches over to squeeze Will’s hand because he’s still hunched in on himself. She couldn’t possibly imagine half the things he’s gone through, but she knows how this feels. Being in love with your best friend, even though you’re not supposed to and you can’t do anything about it? The worst feeling in the world.

You can’t spend time with your favorite person without being terrified that they’ll see through all the walls you’ve built up, because they know you better than anyone.

Max shakes herself out of her head as Will squeezes her hand back and gives her a knowing smile. They make weary eye contact before looking back at Mike and El, who are now fixing the pillow fort so that all four of them can fit without sitting on top of each other.

Once it’s structurally stable again, because El is a genius even if Mike is a dumbass, the brown eyed girl says, “We should tell secrets!”

Max almost groans out loud because this is her best friend’s favorite game nowadays.

She’ll give Max one of those mischievous grins that makes her insides get all tangled together and whisper in her ear something like tell me a secret. And Max will have to bite her tongue so her entire heart doesn’t come pouring out of her.

“What kind of secrets?” Will asks and he’s gripping Max’s hand hard enough that her knuckles are turning white

“All of them,” El responds and grins, before a serious shadow passes over her face.

Mike shifts so that he’s sitting with his knees pressed up against his chest and says, “Well, one time, I ate all of Nancy’s Halloween candy and blamed it on a raccoon.”

“Hey, a raccoon ate my candy once too,” Will say.

Mike looks anywhere but him while El cackles and Max smiles a little bit. Then, of course, the brown eyed girl moves so that her head’s on Max’s shoulder and Max doesn’t really hear the next part of the conversation until…

“Your turn,” Will pokes her.

“Oh… umm…” Max thinks, “The other day, I didn’t take out the trash?”

Besides being madly in love with El Hopper, Max isn’t allowed to have any secrets. She doesn’t know how, but Neil always finds out and she can already feel the bruises on her back when he realizes she didn’t actually do one of her jobs.

“How’s that a secret?” Mike asks.

“Just because you don’t do your chores doesn’t mean the rest of us are slackers, Wheeler,” Max snaps back.

Will’s giving her this weird look that’s like he knows, which she figures he does given the way he jumps when doors slam and how Jonathan’s always standing in front of him when Hopper comes over and he asks, “Max. What would happen if you… didn’t keep that a secret?”

Max has always been a terrible liar. Her face goes red and she bites her lip and… El can always tell anyway.

So, even though her cheeks are the same shade as her hair, she keeps her mouth shut.

“Max,” El whispers.

Her voice cracks as she replies, “He doesn’t…” and when she trails off, she sees her best friend’s heart break a little bit and that’s the worst part of it all.

Then, the tears are coming and she can’t stop them or the words that are pouring out of her mouth or the way everyone stares at her with that horrible pity in their eyes (there are people dying, she doesn’t deserve any of it) and… she takes a deep breath once her throat is raw and still doesn’t know what she said.

“Mouth breather,” El growls, with fire in her eyes and then adds, “Max…”

But, Max doesn’t let her finish the sentence because she says, “No, no, no, it’s fine. It’s not… I mean… you know. It could be so much worse.”

“You’re not safe, Max,” Will reaches out to put a hand on her shoulder.

“I know.”

It’s not safe when you’re hiding in your bedroom as your stepdad slams through the house and screams at whatever he sees. It’s not safe when you’re more scared of being at home than facing demodogs in an abandoned bus. It’s not safe and Max knows it, but she… she’s just so scared of what he’ll do if she tries to leave and…

“I will help you,” El says and wraps her arms around Max’s waist, which makes her think that maybe… maybe, everything will be ok.

And she knows that hope is a stupid think to have, especially for girls like her. It was the first lesson she learned, age three and wearing a black dress at her dad’s funeral, wondering why they were putting him in the ground if he was just taking a nap.

She’s relearned it over and over again so many times that it’s been etched into her skin.

Don’t trust false promises.

But this is El, who can move human beings with a flick of her hand, whose eyes tell stories Max wants to read for the rest of her life, whose smile is everything and more, whose motto is “friends don’t lie”, so maybe… maybe… maybe, hope isn’t so foolish. Just in this case. Not in the case of getting swept off her feet and kissing in the rain and throwing pebbles at windows and star crossed lovers and happy endings.

Not for girls like Max.

So, she just nods and pretends that she believes her best friend as a piece of her soul shatters and lodges itself in those brilliant brown eyes.  
Mike clears his throat and interrupts the two girls’ silent conversation by saying, “Hey, I’m gonna go make some popcorn.”

“I’ll show you where it is,” Will says and the boys crawl out of the fort.

“When I was in the… the lab,” El starts in a hushed tone and Max scoots in closer (if that’s even possible), “They hurt me too.”

Max is going to burn those assholes to the ground, if she has to drag herself on bloodied knees and broken bones. She’ll charge in, fists clenched and eyes blazing because no one has the right to hurt Eleven like that. No. One.

Her best friend takes a shaky breath and continues, while staring at the ground, “Papa… he made me do things that I… I didn’t want to do. There were cats and… and soda cans and… people and… the bath and... I didn’t want to do it, I didn’t, but I had to… Max, I promise I didn’t, but… but, I had to and I couldn’t stop him and…”

They’re both crying now and holding each other as tightly as they can. Max wishes she had the words to make this all go away, but the only thing she can think to say is I’m here.

Then, El blinks at her through tears and brushes one of her cheek and her fingers are so soft…

Max closes her eyes and feels the ghost of lips brushing against hers, so she opens them again. El’s face is dangerously close to her as she stares in confusion.

“You asked me what I like,” she whispers, “And… and, I like you.”

Max wants to scream from the rooftops that El’s laugh is the music her heart beats along to and that her smile is what follows her across the horizon in her dreams and that her eyes are the best story Max has ever read, she never wants it to end, but… but, all she can do is give a small smile and take a deep, shaky breath.

“We’re not… girls aren’t supposed to…” she tries to explain it.

“But, I like you and I want to kiss you.”

Max shivers a little bit (El wants her? Her?!).

“I want… I want that too, but… we have to be careful, ok?” Everything she’s been hiding for the past few months comes spilling out as the other girl gives her the trademark wide-eyed stare.

“Ok,” El replies, “I am very careful.”

Max grins despite herself at the girl trying the word out in this new context.

“You’re happy?” her best friend (maybe more?) asks.

“Of course I am. I have you.”

This time, when El smiles, it lights up the entire room like a thousand stars shining in the night sky or the way Max’s heart feels when El’s in the room with her.

“Ok?” the brown eyed girl asks as she places a hand on Max’s cheek.

“More than ok,” she responds and explodes when El’s lips brush her cheek. No wonder people talk about kissing so much! Not even on the lips and she feels dizzy inside, like she’s just stepped off one of those carnival rides.

El has curled up with her head in Max’s lap when Mike and Will finally come back with the popcorn, looking guilty, like they’ve heard everything that the girls have been confessing.

“So… uhhh… here’s the food,” Mike says and then immediately stuffs his face.

Max takes a fistful of popcorn as she listens to everyone else chattering about the new D&D campaign. Will’s gesturing excitedly, Mike is mostly staring at him (except to jump in with some clarifications) and El is firing off questions that Max doesn’t even understand. Surprisingly, the girl’s gotten really, really into Dungeons and Dragons ever since the party introduced her to it and her enraptured expression is the only thing that keeps Max from falling asleep during the sessions.

“Will, you never told a secret,” El says, after a minute.

His face goes white before he responds in a way-too-smooth voice, “I don’t have any secrets.”

The two share a look, their eyes flicking towards Mike, who’s still scrounging through the bowl for the last edible popcorn kernels. Will gives a stern head shake while El glares at him until he finally sighs and looks straight out through the makeshift door of the fort.

“Tell him,” El mouths.

“No,” he hisses and since Mike is a dumbass, he doesn’t even look up, just licks some butter off his fingers (Max winces while she watches this).

“I’ll go first,” she whispers and finally, he nods.

“My name is Jane, but I go by El and I like Max,” El says and Max almost snorts because why does she feel the need to introduce herself?

“JANE?!” Mike shrieks, “What the hell?”

Oh. That’s why. Come to think of it, Max hasn’t exactly heard El’s real name before, even though she assumed it doesn’t say Eleven on her birth certificate.

“And, why’s you liking Max such a big secret? We all know that.”

“Mike,” El raises an eyebrow at him.

Mike is the biggest moron Max has ever met, because he just replies, “El” and then adds, “I don’t get it.”

The brown eyed girl sighs and says, “ Will’s turn.”

Will’s eyes go wide and he takes a deep breath. Max reaches over to place a steady hand on his shoulder and he gives her a thankful grin. El gives him a thumbs up and if this were anyone else, they would be flipping her off right now, but Will’s too nice for that, so he just shoots her a death glare instead.

Eventually, he clears his throat and closes his eyes before talking.

“You guys have to promise not to hate me.”

“Promise,” El replies and squeezes his arm gently.

Max just nods and adds, “Ditto.”

“What? Did you murder someone or something?” Mike laughs at his own joke while Will and El send him identical “shut the hell up expressions” and he stammers to add, “Hey, I’d never hate you, Will. Crazy together, remember?”

Ok, Max is really confused. She’s never heard either of them say that in her life and now they’re going around dropping it like wedding vows or something.

“I…”, then his voice goes to a whisper and Max has to strain to hear the word gay.

El claps supportively and Max gives an encouraging smile, but Will just stares Mike down. The other boy looks really, really uncomfortable and she vows to actually kill him this time if he turns out to be more of an asshole. There’s been a few close calls, but… Max doesn’t mind going to jail in Will’s defense.  
He deserves someone who loves him for the wonderful person he is, every part of that.

Max is a different story.

She glances over at El, who looks back at her with panic. They both watch as Will looks at Mike and Mike looks at the floor and then, promptly crawls out of the pillow fort. The girls and Will are frozen, staring at each other and holding their breath until the front door slams and Max jumps into action.

She wraps Will in a bear hug that has the walls of the fort tumbling over as she pulls him into her chest. She can feel him crying again and she shakes with him, imagining what it would be like if El… if things hadn’t gone the way that they had.

After a few minutes, Max lets go and tells him, “Now, I’m gonna go kick Wheeler’s ass.”

He protests, but she ignores it and crawls out of the fort, storming outside and straight into said total dick standing on the porch and staring into space.


	5. we're freaks and that's ok

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> after mike runs out, el takes care of will and reassures him that everything will be ok.

“He doesn’t hate you.”

Will looks up. He’s not crying anymore, but he looks so numb and empty and sad that El knows she needs to speak up.

“Why’d he storm off, then?” he asks, quietly and hopelessly. He’s looking at the floor, basically glaring at it. She holds his hand and thinks about the question.

El… doesn’t know. She still doesn’t understand why society doesn’t like gay people. But she does know one thing. Mike could never, ever hate Will. It’s as likely as pigs growing wings and flying.

She speaks slowly, reaching to grab his other hand. “I don’t know why. But I do know that he cares about you.”

He shakes his head. “Why would he care about me?”

What?

Will, she’s just realizing, is broken. He doesn’t think anyone can care about him.

El’s about to show him otherwise.

“Will. Three years ago, you were taken into the Upside-Down.”

He’s confused.

“You were… Everyone believed you were dead, but your mom… she believed you were alive. She wanted you to be alive. And Mike…” She remembers that day. The day when Will’s ‘body’ was found. “He… He pushed everything away. And he ran home. And he was more upset than… than I’ve ever seen.”

Will’s paying attention, but he still isn’t buying it. She needs to keep going.

“And, he was looking through a binder… full of paper…” she tried to remember. “And when I found your voice, he knew it was you. And he convinced everyone else you were alive.”

“That doesn’t mean--”

“Will!” If he’s not going to listen, if he’s not going to understand how much people care about him, she’s going to have to scream it into his ear and pound it into his head and do anything, anything, to make him feel loved. “No one wanted to let you go! They love you! The only one who doesn’t see that is you.”

He’s in tears at this point, but El can’t determine if they’re happy or sad. It’s more like tears of… shock. Like he’s just now understanding. Either way, El realizes that he needs comfort right now, and she pulls him into a tight hug, not planning to let go.

“And Will, I care about you.” Tears are streaming down her face now, too.

They sit in content quiet, still holding each other in a hug.

El speaks again. “I could tell that he cared about you. Why would a small thing like being gay make that all go away?”

He pulls away and shakes his head. “You don’t get it. Being…” He sighs. “It’s… wrong. Or, people think it’s wrong. And they think it’s gross, and you’re seen as a freak.”

A freak? El knew that word, a little too well.

“Like… me, when I escaped the lab?”

“What?”

Right. He didn’t know that El.

“Um… Shaved head, hospital gown, barely able to talk, superpowers?” She considers how far she’s come, and smiles at the thought. “Everyone was scared of me. Even Lucas and Dustin.”

He chuckles at that. “Oh yeah. They act all tough, but they can’t even kill a spider.” He shakes his head. “Good thing they have you.”

“And you.” They’re both brave, both strong.

El thinks she hears yelling, and smiles at the thought of Mike being taught a lesson by Max. Her Max.

Will must hear it too, because he says, “Well, at least I have someone to defend me,” rolling his eyes just a bit.

“She means well. She just gets…” What’s a good word? “Fiery”.

He nods. “Very.”

They sit in silence, trying to hear their conversation. El thinks she hears her name, but she can’t manage to hear any context.

“Thank you.”

El looks up. Will seems… slightly calmer. Good. She’s done at least one thing right.

“Any time.” She means it. She’ll always be there to protect or comfort or help her sort-of-brother. And she knows he’ll do the same.


	6. wheeler, you absolute dumbass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> max goes to confront mike and ends up telling him way too much

“You are worse than dirt, Wheeler,” she growls and then smacks him in the face. 

“What the hell?!” he yelps. 

“How dare you?! How dare you promise your best friend you’ll never hate him and then turn around and ditch him when he needs you?!” she’s screaming and her throat is raw already and she’s in his face, “Jesus Christ, Wheeler! This isn’t about your stupid homophobic ass! This is about Will and how he trusted you and you let him down.” 

With those words, she shoves him and he stumbles backwards.

Max is bright red and she can’t stop herself from continuing, “Some people are different, ok? We don’t love you any less because you’re a terrible person and we don’t hate Eleven because she has badass powers! We love each other in spite of our differences and because of them and if you can’t do that, you need to grow up! I don’t want to be around someone that treats me and my friends like shit because of who we love.” 

“Who we…?” Mike starts. 

“Yeah. I’m a lesbian and I don’t give a shit if you want to be my friend or accept or whatever the hell helps you sleep at night so you can get into heaven, but this isn’t about me. You told Will crazy together, right? Well, he sure as hell feels like he’s going crazy right now and you’re not there. You abandoned him. That’s on you. And, God, I didn’t think you could make yourself seem like anymore of a dick after all that shit you pulled with El, but…” 

He cuts her off then and snaps, “What is that supposed to mean?” 

“Oh, you didn’t know?! When El and I hung out that first day and she dumped your ass, she had to ask me what she liked. How messed up is that?!” Max is still fuming, clenching and unclenching her fists as she breathes raggedly. 

“I didn’t… I didn’t know…” he stammers. 

“Yeah, you’re right. You didn’t. Because you never asked. Well, I don’t have my head up my ass, unlike some people, so I’m gonna do my goddamn best to make sure that she gets the entire world… because I’m lucky as hell that she chose me and I’m going to remember that for the rest of my life, because…” 

Mike looks down at her and asks, “You love her, don’t you?” 

“Of course I do,” Max replies and shakes her head a little bit, “This isn’t about me, Wheeler. This is about you and how you need to get your ass back in there and fake it until you’re ok with two men kissing.” 

He lets out a dry laugh. 

“You think I hate him now?” he’s grinning, but it’s out of place. 

“What the hell am I supposed to think when you storm out of there after he tells his deepest, darkest secret, which just happens to be something a lot of people want to kick his ass for?” 

“I’m in love with him, you idiot!” he screeches and she has to pause because that is not what she expected he was going to say. Then again, it does make sense because of… well, everything. The longing glances, the lingering touches, the special smile he has reserved for Will… 

After a few minutes of processing, Max nods, “Ok. We can fix this. You just need to get your shit together and apologize.”

“But… how?” he asks and slumps over even more. 

“We’ll work on that,” she replies and then opens her arms for the first hug she’s ever given Mike Wheeler. She figures, once he’s joined the hopelessly in love with a Byers-Hopper squad, he’ll be getting plenty and she might as well start now. 

Then, they sit down on the porch steps and plan out (in great detail) exactly how Mike Wheeler is going to woo Will Byers. It involves Max suggesting a choreographed dance to an ABBA song, lip syncing to Faithfully by Journey and baking a cherry pie (Will’s favorite). Mike shoots down all those ideas because a) when he dances, he looks like a chicken, b) he’d mess up the words and c) he can’t cook to save his life (and also, with what time?). 

Instead, he writes a freaking poem in two minutes, starts a seven minute long rant about Will's eyes specifically (when he tries to move on to the boy’s smile, Max shuts him up, and he whines that “he hasn’t even gotten to the best parts!!) and then spends the rest of twenty minutes coming up with an extremely eloquent speech that Max tries to suggest things for. 

Max thinks that if she has to hear about “your earth shattering laugh” or “that groundbreaking smile” one more time, she is going to set something on fire, scream and then kiss El because she can, societal norms be damned. 

Finally, he gets up, takes a deep breath, stares at the door and his knees promptly give out, so Max is now carrying both his relationship with Will and literally him while she drags him inside. 

“Did you kill him?” El asks, coming out of Will’s room with her arms crossed. Will stands at her shoulder, still looking shocked and vulnerable, so Max walks over and envelopes him in another hug. It’s the most hugs she’s given out in a long time, mostly because Neil doesn’t touch her except to hit her, her mom doesn’t look twice at her and she’s been so afraid of hugging El and letting everything show. But, she’s not complaining. It’s nice to feel someone, to know you’re not alone in the world, to have arms that hold you up just as much as you support them. 

Mike waves a little bit from the doorway and everyone whips around to stare at him. 

“Max,” El says, her voice even, “Why is he still alive?” 

Then, Max gestures at Mike to start talking and when he opens his mouth, the only thing she can think is that was not in the speech.


	7. you're the best thing that's ever happened to me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> mike's speech doesn't go exactly as planned

The words he’d prepared left him the second he saw those big brown eyes.

He panicked and wanted to run away and into a closet (literally and figuratively). But Max gestured to him and now it’s quiet, and running isn’t an option anymore.

“Umm…” Why do El and Max have to be there in the room with him? “Will. I prepared a… speech. I know it sounds lame, but I don’t even remember it anyway, so…” Why is this so difficult?

He continues. “So… I don’t hate you. That’s a good place to start. But I don’t just not hate you. Literally nothing has changed. I don’t see you any differently.” Mike takes a deep breath.

“I guess the reason I left was…”

How is he supposed to continue?

“You’re… amazing. You’re…” Come on, Mike. Tell him the truth. This is your chance. Mike doesn’t know where it comes from, but he gets a new boost of confidence. And he tells him the truth.

“You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

Will seems shocked.

And now Mike is rambling.

“You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, you light up a room when you’re in it, and every moment we’ve ever had together means so much more to me than you’ll ever know. But now you do, I guess. And I don’t know how I’d function if I didn’t have you to ground me. You make me feel… things I shouldn’t feel, and I got scared, and I’m still scared, but I guess if I have you I’ll be okay. And you have really nice eyes, and your smile…” Max raises her eyebrows. Mike doesn’t care. “It’s beautiful, and I wish I saw it more often.”

He pauses, not knowing how to continue.

“Umm… I guess I’m just gonna say some things I like about you.”

He clears his throat, wanting to say everything but not knowing where to start.

“I love your drawings. You put so much effort into them. I love seeing you while you’re drawing. You’re so focused, and calm, and I can tell you really love it. Well, you’re always focused and calm. You’re… one of the bravest people I’ve ever met. I know you don’t think people want to hear you talk, but I could listen to you for hours, because you say everything perfectly, and your voice… and your eyes, and your hair and your smile and…” Oh no. He’s being too sappy, isn’t he? What should he say now? Mike still has so much more to say, but he’d prefer it if he could say it without being stared down by his ex-girlfriend and his frenemy.

But before he stops, he lifts his eyes from where they were resting on the floor (they were moving around quite a lot, avoiding Will’s gaze, and finally settled on the carpet). And he sees Will, looking at him, mouth open, eyes full of emotion.

And he realizes all of the things he’s just admitted. A deep part of him is out in the world, now. Well, out to three people. Two that he trusts, and one who’s sort of earned his trust after helping him with the speech.

And he just hopes and prays that things will be okay.


	8. i just don't understand why you love me back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> will doesn't understand mike's confession and max teaches el some new words.

“And, so… ummm… yeah. That’s the list of reasons, ” Mike finishes and then clasps his hands together, looking at everyone like he’s waiting for someone to roll a dice or something.

“Wheeler, that took like twenty minutes,” Max says.

“I’m sorry that I have a lot of feelings, Maxine,” Mike snaps and she just rolls her eyes.

“Maybe we don’t need to kill him,” El mutters, taking a protective arm off of Will’s shoulder. Mike gives him a small, questioning grin and Will just gapes at him because he’s still processing what happened.

Mike Wheeler is in love with him? Will Byers? The shy boy with boxes of broken crayons and too many feelings? The monster? He doesn’t understand- it made more sense when he thought his best friend hated him, but now? Now, every thought he has ends in a question mark and there’s so many voices in his head that he can’t see straight.

_You’re not good enough, never will be good enough._

_Why the hell would he choose you?_

_You don’t deserve this. You don’t deserve any of it._

_He should be with someone so much better than you._

_He’s not broken like you are. He’s normal._

_You’ll just ruin his life, so you need to get out now before it’s too late._

_He’d never actually love you back, not if he knew what you were._

_You’re a monster, monster, monster, monster…_

“Will?” his sister asks and he whips around to look at her again.

“I don’t understand,” he says and then opens and shuts his mouth, because he wants to say something, but the words have all disappeared. His hands are itching for a pencil and paper so he can draw everything he’s been sketching for years, because maybe that will show Mike exactly how he feels.

Actually, it’d probably be more efficient to get out the thousands of drawings he already has. That way he doesn’t have to keep erasing and redoing Mike’s smile until he gets it right.

“He loves you, dipshit,” Max says, “Weren’t you listening?”

El agrees, “Yeah, dipshit.”

“Please stop teaching El bad words, Max. Mom and Hopper hate it,” Will tells her, remembering Hopper’s face when she called him a little bitch at dinner the other night. It made Will choke on his milk because he was laughing so hard, but she lost tv privileges for the weekend.

“Sorry,” Max mutters.

“What’s the other word for this?” El asks, gesturing at Will vaguely.

“That’s the thing. Dipshit covers it,” the redhead shrugs.

“I just don’t understand,” Will repeats, “Why… why would he love me back?”

“Back?!” Mike squeaks and that’s the exact moment when Will realizes he’s still standing there. The other boy has this small smile that Will’s never seen before, but he wants to memorize it and see it again for every day of his life. Along with all of the other Mike Wheeler smiles, of course.

“So… uhhh… me and El are gonna go so you two can make out,” Max says and then drags the brown eyed girl out of the room.

Will hears her ask from down the hall, “What’s make out?”

“Jesus,” he sighs as he imagines the conversation between El and Hopper later tonight, probably involving the police chief yelling, “Max taught you WHAT?!”

“Ummm…” Mike says, stuffing his hands into his pockets like he does when nervous.

Will makes him nervous?! Even though parts of him are still screaming that this is a sick prank or that he’s going to wake up in an abandoned pillow fort after this lost dream, he starts smiling because he can’t help it.

“Yeah,” Will agrees because ummm is the most eloquent thing he’s thinking right now.

“Maybe we could…?”

“Oh, yeah. We should do that,” Will doesn’t know what he’s agreeing to, he just knows he’ll say yes to whatever this boy asks of him because he’s so in love and Mike loves him back and he can’t stop grinning wildly.

Mike crosses the room and laces his fingers with Will’s, “Ok?”

Will forgets the English language and all he can do is string together some gibberish that he hopes sounds like yes, a million times yes.

“Me too,” the other boy smiles a little bit and places his forehead against Will’s. The two grin at each other like fools for a few moments, holding hands and Will thinks that he’s going to either wake up or pass out, but he really doesn’t want to do either of those things.

So, he holds onto Mike a little tighter and thinks please let this be real.

When the boy he loves looks into his eyes and asks, “Can I kiss you?”, he just nods, because he’s afraid he’ll start crying again if he tries to speak.

When Mike leans in and closes the gap, Will thinks that maybe he isn’t broken. Or, if he was, this boy who looks at him like he’s a star (Will still doesn’t know why, but he’s never going to let go) and the sister that gives the best bear hugs (Will’s gonna fight for her because he know she’ll do the same for him) and the girl with hair the color of fire and a soul to match it (Will doesn’t have enough words to thank her) and the curly haired boy who’s always telling stupid jokes (Will is going to come up with a pun as good as his someday) and the boy who knows way too much about fireworks (Will promises to spend as much time as he can blowing up stuff with Lucas) have already fixed him.

Will is going to follow these people to the ends of the earth, because even if he is a monster, they love him anyways.

Especially Mike Wheeler. And Will may not know why, but he knows he loves him just the same.

That’s what matters, right?

**Author's Note:**

> thanks so much for reading- hope you enjoyed!! feel free to come visit us on tumblr (queenie is @eraseyourbookofstories and robin is @strangerthingiscool) to request stuff, chat about stranger things or just hang out! we love you guys!! comments and kudos bring tears of joy, so please leave them :)


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